ABSTRACT
July, 1912, to July, 1914, the first two years of State Unemployment Insurance in Great Britain, were also years in which unemployment was at a minimum in that country. The war period was one in which unemployment temporarily ceased to be a problem. The second important Unemployment Insurance Act, that of 1916, extended the provisions of the original Act to all workers engaged on, or in connection with, munitions work who were not already insured. The New Ministries and Secretaries Act of 1916, while having no direct bearing on the State program of unemployment relief, established the Ministry of Labor as a separate department and transferred to it from the Board of Trade all powers and duties of Government relating to labor and industry. The actual transference took place on January 10, 1917, from which date management of the Employment Exchanges and State-operated Unemployment Insurance has been under the Ministry of Labor.
